As a verb, judge shares with adjudge the meanings of "to think," "to consider," "to guess," and "to estimate": "We judged (or adjudged) our best move was to get away as soon as possible." Adjudge, a more formal term than judge, is usually reserved for such meanings as "to announce formally" and "to decree" (The court adjudged the will to be valid) and "to award judicially" (The verdict was adjudged to the plaintiff). Judge has a variety of meanings, as suggested by uses such as these: "The coach will have to judge between us." "Listen to both of us and judge accordingly." "You shouldn't judge a magazine by its cover." "The foreman judged me to be right." "The pilot judged the distance to be 1 mile."
Dictionary of problem words and expressions. Harry Shaw. 1975.